Back in January 2004 I attended The Big Day Out. It was my first music festival, with my only previous live music experience being a Millencolin gig. Coming into it, my knowledge consisted only of a couple of songs by The Strokes who I enjoyed along with a couple of other bands I hadn’t heard of. Overall I had an alright time. Afterwards I borrowed cd’s of bands I hadn’t seen but had been there and was horrified by how much I liked them. So many bands which I now loved had been playing just metres away and I’d neglected them. Never would I allow such an atrocity to happen again and so my crusade for musical knowledge began. I digitalised my whole collection however was not content with this. I began borrowing other peoples collections and adding them to mine. I got my hands on every cd I could and ripped it. By now my collection was growing and my tastes diversifying yet I was still not satisfied. There was so many cd’s I sought yet none of my friends owned them. It was here that I was introduced to soulseek, a heavenly program, which opened the floodgates to my heart’s desires. It amazes how ignorant I was just two years ago and this episode is a celebration of some the bands that sparked me onto this path of radiance.

Inertiatic ESP – The Mars VoltaTo be honest I’m not the biggest Mars Volta fan. Their tendency to play ‘music’ rather ‘songs’ turns me off, due to the periods of procrastination between pieces. However this song (combined with the intro) goes against this formula and so is just my type. It features the energy they’re famous for along with incredible vocals. Absolutely awesome song. Those with a sharp ear will notice it got a bit of treatment in the editing room.

Get Your Hands Off My Women – The DarknessSpeaking of great voices, this guy is unbelievable. He’s so high pitched it’s almost laughable. However it’s this high-pitched-ness which makes them so good. I have loved this song from the day I heard it and will continue to practise my high notes on it cause that’s just the cool thing to do….

Do You Realize?? – The Flaming LipsThe Flaming Lips probably just beat the Darkness as the band I’m most disappointed about missing. Not because I like their music better but because a whole heap of people came out on stage in big animal costumes. I think this accurately sums them up – weird. I have pleasant memories of trying to synchronise their 4 disc experimental album, Zaireeka, with very little success. However in recent years they have settled down and are producing more standard music, including this absolute gem, arguably their best.

Molly’s Chamber – Kings Of LeonMost of the time when I’m reading a book, I listen to music at the same time. However it occasionally occurs where the two creative materials merge and become one. Back when I was reading ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’, about two years ago, I still used a cd player and being my lazy self would listen to the same thing over and over again and so listened to nothing but Kings of Leon’s first album whilst reading this and so now they are inherently linked in my mind. However both being overflowing with southern USA goodness it hasn’t really deterred from either one. I imagine the word Leon stands for cool cause that’s exactly what they are. Great album all round but I picked this as a nice distraction song and because I’ve already used Red Morning Light somewhere.

Apocalypse Please – MuseThe title of this song gives an indication of what Muse like to sing about. Thankfully they manage to back up their grand subject matter with an even grander musical style. You get swept up in every song which are all epic in their own way. That said, I’m not the biggest nor most knowledgeable Muse fan however I know them well enough to get sad when I think I could have seen them so easily

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Music is featured here in the hope that people will discover, and thus support, artists they otherwise would not have found. If however you represent an artist whose song is featured here and would like it removed, a kind word is all it takes for it to disappear.